A substrate processing apparatus includes: a plasma generating unit to excite a process gas into plasma state; a process chamber where a substrate is processed using the process gas excited in plasma state; a loading port installed at a sidewall of the process chamber, wherein the substrate is passed through the loading port when the substrate is loaded into the process chamber; a substrate support supporting the substrate in the process chamber; an electrode unit installed in the substrate support and including a plurality of divided electrodes; an impedance adjusting unit electrically connected to each of the plurality of electrodes to adjust an impedance thereof; and a control unit to control the impedance of the impedance adjusting unit so as to adjust the electrical potentials of the respective electrodes of the electrode unit. The substrate processing apparatus improves the uniformity of a substrate during a substrate processing process using plasma.
Legal claims defining the scope of protection, as filed with the USPTO.
1. A substrate processing apparatus comprising: a plasma generating unit configured to excite a process gas into plasma state; a process chamber where a substrate is processed using the process gas excited in plasma state; a loading port installed at a sidewall of the process chamber, wherein the substrate is passed through the loading port when the substrate is loaded into the process chamber; a substrate support supporting the substrate in the process chamber; an electrode unit installed in the substrate support and including a plurality of divided electrodes; a plurality of impedance adjusting units configured to adjust impedances of the plurality of divided electrodes, wherein each of the plurality of impedance units is electrically connected to each of the plurality of divided electrodes; and a control unit configured to control the impedances of the plurality of impedance adjusting units so as to adjust the electrical potentials of the respective electrodes of the electrode unit, wherein the control unit controls the plurality of impedance adjusting units such that an electrical potential of an electrode positioned in a direction facing the loading port as viewed from the center of the electrode unit among the plurality of divided electrodes is higher than electrical potentials of the other electrodes among the plurality of divided electrodes such that an amount of active species of the excited process gas drawn toward the substrate is uniform throughout the surface of the substrate.
2. The substrate processing apparatus of claim 1 , wherein at least two of the plurality of electrodes are divided along a circumferential direction thereof.
3. The substrate processing apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the plurality of electrodes comprises an inner electrode having a circular shape and disposed at a center and a plurality of outer electrodes surrounding the inner electrode.
4. The substrate processing apparatus of claim 3 , wherein at least two of the plurality of outer electrodes are divided along a circumferential direction thereof.
5. A substrate processing apparatus comprising: a plasma generating unit configured to excite a process gas into plasma state; a process chamber where a substrate is processed using the process gas excited in plasma state; a loading port installed at a sidewall of the process chamber, wherein the substrate is passed through the loading port when the substrate is loaded into the process chamber; a substrate support supporting the substrate in the process chamber; an electrode unit installed in the substrate support and including a plurality of divided electrodes; and an impedance adjusting unit electrically connected to each of the plurality of electrodes and configured to adjust an impedance thereof; wherein an electrode positioned in the center of the electrode unit among the plurality of electrodes comprises an extension part extending horizontally toward the loading port.
6. The substrate processing apparatus of claim 5 , wherein the control unit is further configured to control the impedance adjusting unit to adjust the impedance thereof such that an impedance applied to the electrode positioned in the center of the electrode unit is higher than an impedance applied to the plurality of electrodes other than the electrode positioned in the center of the electrode unit.
7. A method of manufacturing a semiconductor device, comprising: (a) loading a substrate into a process chamber of a substrate processing apparatus through a loading port; (b) placing the substrate on a substrate support having an electrode unit comprising a plurality of divided electrodes after performing (a); (c) electrically connecting each of a plurality of impedance adjusting units configured to adjust impedances of the plurality of divided electrodes to each of the plurality of divided electrodes; (d) configuring a control unit to control the impedances of the plurality of impedance adjusting units so as to adjust the electrical potentials of the respective electrodes of the electrode unit; (e) adjusting, via the control unit, an electrical potential applied to an electrode positioned in a direction facing the loading port as viewed from the center of the electrode unit among the plurality of divided electrodes to be higher than electrical potentials applied to the other electrodes among the plurality of divided electrodes state such that an amount of active species of an excited process gas drawn toward the substrate is uniform throughout the surface of the substrate; and (f) processing the substrate placed on the substrate support using the excited process gas in plasma state.
8. The method of claim 7 , wherein at least two of the plurality of electrodes are divided along a circumferential direction thereof.
9. The method of claim 7 , wherein the plurality of electrodes comprises an inner electrode having a circular shape and disposed at a center and a plurality of outer electrodes surrounding the inner electrode.
10. The method of claim 9 , wherein at least two of the plurality of outer electrodes are divided along a circumferential direction thereof.
Cooperative Patent Classification codes for this invention. Click any code to explore related patents in that topic.
September 15, 2016
November 14, 2017
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